"It isn't the case that cheap electronic devices always sell well in China," said Takeshi Yamaya, a freelance writer, at the 14th DisplaySearch Japan Forum hosted by DisplaySearch Jan 30, 2008.
As consumers with high incomes are increasing primarily in coastal areas in China, imported electronic products with higher performance and superior capabilities are winning popularity even though they are slightly expensive, he said.
According to Yamaya, average monthly income of Internet users in China is slightly less than ¥28,000 (US$263). Also in a research on "wealthy corporate workers in China" conducted by Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in 2007, average monthly income was ¥80,000 level in Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen, ¥60,000 to 70,000 level in Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Suzhou, Xiamen (Amoy) and Qingdao, and ¥40,000 to 50,000 level in Nanjing Dalian and Tianjin.
Many Chinese, however, buy electronic products adding money they receive from their parents, instead of purchasing them only with their own savings. They sometimes collect funds from all of the members of their own families, so real purchasing power is high in China, Yamaya said.
When such people purchase electronics, they do not choose extremely low-price products, he said. In the case of mobile phones, for example, models at ¥15,000 to 30,000 and ¥30,000 to 45,000 are selling better than models at less than ¥15,000. He added that Apple's "iPhone" and Sharp's mobile phones, which are not available in China, are also very popular as Web terminals.
Likewise, LCD TVs at ¥75,000 to 120,000 and ¥120,000 to 150,000 are more popular than models at less than ¥75,000. Popularity is focusing on imported high-quality products in particular, he said.
Yamaya analyzed this is because Chinese consumers tend to think, "Since I am going to pay a large amount of money, why not get a high-quality imported product?"
In China, possessing pricey electronics is considered a form of status and therefore, people tend to purchase more luxury models even if they are a stretch, according to Yamaya. He added that the number of Chinese that feel that extremely cheap electronics have poor performance and break easily is increasing.
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